“Either way, everybody’s gonna be bent out of shape,” Richt said, laughing. “The way it is now, people will be bent out of shape if it’s just four.”

Ain’t that the troof.

I don’t get the celebratory reaction to Hancock’s statement. Of course the status quo is going to get reworked. The fix was in on that as soon as the conference commissioners took a close look at the attendance and viewership numbers from this past bowl season.

The problem now, as it has been all along, is achieving a consensus on what the replacement for the status quo will be. And as Staples’ article indicates, as problems go, it’s a big ‘un.

Here’s just one example of what they’ve got to overcome.

… Scott would like to see a system that weighs strength of schedule more heavily. “If we go to a four-team playoff, then we’re essentially going to put more stock in the playoff,” Scott said. “The plan, from my perspective, would be a more credible, objective, fair system that balances strength of schedule. We all don’t play over the same course. Every conference has got different caliber. Some conferences play nine conference games. Some play eight. Some play stronger out-of-conference competition. Some tend to not. They just want to get home games.”

Take that, Mike Slive. (My guess is he won’t.)

I don’t want to say a lot of the debate is insurmountable. But what they’ve got to overcome in the next few weeks is certainly formidable. While I don’t believe they’ll throw up their hands and stick with what they’ve done – that’s not where the money is, after all – it would surprise me less and less if they don’t fall back on a true plus-one, a title game after all the bowls are played in which the top two teams face off, as their default. The fans get a new shiny toy, the schools get another game from which to generate revenue and the commissioners get to put off all the hard decisions that can’t reach agreement on for another day. Which will no doubt come.

Meanwhile, nobody will listen to Mark Richt.

“Just tell me what the rules are. Tell me what the deal is and we’ll play by it,” he said. “I don’t know what is the right answer. But I would not want to change college football much. College football is a great sport. It’s an unbelievable regular season. Probably more exciting than any regular season in any sport. So we want to be careful to make sure we know what we’re looking for.”

13 responses to “Sometimes, your honesty is refreshing.”

A plus one, with some half hearted effort to shape bowl matchups to get 1v4 and 2v3 (but with far too many caveats and codicles to make that a regular occurence) is what I expect will come out this. The inconvenient truth is that there isn’t a “simple” solution to the problem of selecting a playoff field from 120 teams playing wildly disparate 12 game schedules.

Proposal: Let’s see more of each opponent’s strengths and players over the summer. Let’s diagnose the first 4 games, then proceed from there after play begins. Start a “Let’s tear Buffalo to pieces” thread and proceed from there.

Question: Has the internet ever had a virtual riot? Can we at least try to have one over the next 3 boring months? Certainly some of you can burn virtual couchs on here. Someone can virtually steal opponent’s mascots and sacrifice them here. Just a good old-fashioned Old Testament Riot, except for the oldest son sacrifice bit.

Richt isn’t going to get caught up in any of this crud about NC. He’s going to focus on the Fall. Good. His entry into the conversation should be sobering since he seems concerned that CFB can be injured by the greedy bastards, especially since the greedy BCS is focusing on a new money-making paradign.

Scott hit my biggest issue with the “regular season playoff” idea. He’s precisely right in saying “We all don’t play over the same course”. It’d be like declaring a US Open golf champion, where Tiger plays at Pebble, Phil is playing Congressional, Rory McIlroy gets Bethpage, Luke Donald is at Pinehurst, CHarles Schwartzl plays Winged Foot, etc.

I’m honestly sympathetic to this line of thinking. However, I don’t believe I personally could have a strong passion for college football if it turns into all other sports where half of the league gets to press a reset button at the end of the season and start over. Once the post-season gets so big that the reset happens, what’s the point of even having the regular season if it doesn’t really matter?

I guess, but isn’t 82 games a sufficient sample size to determine who the top four or so teams are in basketball? What sense does it make to allow 16 teams to hit that reset button in a 30 team league?

As much as you hate the “the regular season is a playoff argument”, I equally hate the “everybody still watches the regular season in the NFL even with their expanded playoff” argument. I’m sure college football will survive and be just as popular as ever once the 16 team playoff eventually happens. Just because it will still be immensely popular doesn’t mean I will care as much anymore. I like the uniqueness of college football and the uncertainty with the end of the season. I don’t need that finality to validate the sport to me. The regular season and all the other traditions are compelling enough to satisfy me. I completely blame the BCS for over-inflating this obsession with the national championship. For once, something isn’t Bobo’s fault. :)

I agree on the NBA. I think the NFL’s success is as much gambling based as the sport itself. The same probably goes for college football if they put in a playoff.

I agree on the preference of college football’s regular season above all others. But there’s two different means to an ends. Both ways have their positives and negatives. Neither is “better”, just different.

This sounds like the top 2 teams will now play 15 games in one season. And the players get no compensation.It wasn’t that long ago that the entire NFL regular season was 14 games.Think about that. Amateurism, indeed.

No creep necessary. They will tie an 8-team playoff into bowl championships and go to 4, 2, 1 just like that (tries snapping his fingers and the cat grabs them). Although he implied 8 & 16 were out, it ain’t over til the fat BCS Commissioner sings. Make yourselves comfortable, folks, there’s a lot uff’em.

I like on Yardbarker where the Tx AD calls the Delaney’s and Scotts out on the Rose Bowl. Think I’ve read that logic on here. We all hoist the chrystal ball until they get tired of proclaiming themselves winners of the Exibition Bowl Championship. Good for him. That will stop their silly shit of using that bowl for ransom.

How exactly do home-and-aways with the likes of Syracuse and Minnesota move you up the pecking order? I get so tired of P12 schedule whining. Outside of the Rose Bowl, where they get to regularly spank a B1G team, they usually lose their bowl games.

Bloviation for the Dawgnation

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15